Dead
by Kage kioku aji tenshi
Summary: Summary: They all had their ways of laying their dead to rest. For Dwarrow they lay their dead beneath stone, carrying gems or Metal in their, their weapons in hand, for Elves they set their dead ablaze so that they might dance among the stars, Men sent their dead to rest within the dirt, for what reason they did not know, Wizards did not die, and Hobbits, Hobbits had no dead.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: They all had their ways of laying their dead to rest. For Dwarrow they lay their dead beneath stone, carrying gems or Metal in their, their weapons in hand, for Elves they set their dead ablaze so that they might dance among the stars, Men sent their dead to rest within the dirt, for what reason they did not know, Wizards did not die, and Hobbits, Hobbits had no dead.

A/N: An odd little thing I thought up while wondering just what the races of Middle-Earth did with their dead and it turned into Immortal Hobbits. and apparently Grown in Garden Hobbits too.

* * *

Bilbo did not understand what was happening as those around him spoke of gathering the dead together. He sat next to Thorin, the Dwarf's hand in his as he spoke with King Thranduil and the newly crowned King Bard. Walking over the Battlefield he had wondered why all the beings were just lying there unmoving.

"What do you mean?" Bilbo finally asked, needing to know what they meant.

"Pardon?" Bard asked, looking at the Hobbit.

"Why are you gathering Dead? What is it for?" Bilbo asked.

Thranduil frowned, "What do your people do with their dead, leave them to rot?"

"Hobbits don't have dead." Bilbo told them, "At least I don't believe they do, what is dead?"

Thorin gazed at Bilbo solemnly, "Bilbo, dead is what happens when your life is over."

Bilbo tilted his head, "Over?"

"You know when you no longer breath?" Bard said.

"What?"

"What happens when Hobbits get old?" Thranduil asked, gazing at Bilbo curiously.

"Oh, that depends on the Hobbit, Tooks are particularly fond of becoming trees in the Old wood, those wandering feet you know, My mother though, she wanted to be a bird for a while, she and my father flew off just after I came of age, I suspect they'll be back once she's see enough." Bilbo told them, "Why I only just returned to form, I used to be a rather lovely rose bush."

"What?" Bard asked in disbelief.

"But you do age?" Thranduil asked.

"Yes?" Bilbo frowned, "Don't you?"

"But you don't die?"

"I don't know, what does it mean to die?" Bilbo asked.

They stared at Bilbo.

Thorin cleared his throat, "So how old are you?"

"I've been back in form for nearly fifty years, perhaps fifty one, but I remember dancing with Yavanna when the world was new, and Mahal deciding to create those rock people of his." Bilbo shook his head, "Don't even started on the ones made of starlight, what pretentious arses."

Thranduil opened his mouth and then closed it.

"And that one stone man that keeps bothering us to see my grandmother." Bilbo sighed, "I really wish he'd just become with her, it would save us all the trouble of talking her back into form."

"Stone man?" Bard asked.

"I think he calls himself Durin." Bilbo frowned, "It's kind of hard to realize he's Grandmother's husband, he never looks the same. Most Hobbits will keep to form."

"Is Bilbo here?" Gandalf asked as he entered the tent.

"Hello Gandalf." Bilbo waved with his free hand, "Would you mind answering a question for me?"

"Of course not."

"Why are we meant to gather dead?" Bilbo asked.

"To lay them to rest." Gandalf frowned at Bilbo.

"Are they not already doing that? I saw so many laying about as I returned to the Mountain." Bilbo explained.

Gandalf opened and closed his mouth, "What?"

"I have a question." Bard suddenly asked.

Bilbo turned to him.

"How are baby hobbits born?"

"Born?" Bilbo asked.

"You know when a mother gives birth."

"Birth, I don't know what this word means." Bilbo said.

"How did you come to be?" Thranduil asked.

"Oh, well Yavanna helped my mother grow me, I started out as an acorn and grew into a very large tree and when I was ready to take form I was struck by my first lightning and I had to grow up again from a sprout." Bilbo laughed.

Thorin frowned, "What exactly were you going to do with the Acorn for Beorn's then?"

"Grow it of course, she has the potential to be a very lovely daughter, don't you think?" Bilbo asked looking at Thorin.

"Yes?" Thorin said.

"Of course she's being very impatient, she wants to be planted here surrounded by all this stone, I suppose that's what I get for deciding on taking a stone man for a spouse."

"Spouse?" Gandalf sputtered.

"Well, yes..., I left my home for his and even helped chase the vermin out, we'll have to keep a watch to make she the Dragon stays away but really I don't suspect he'll return." Bilbo said, "By all accounts Thorin and I are married."

Gandalf opened his mouth.

"Of course we are." Thorin smiled at Bilbo, "Although I should braid your hair to make sure my people know we are wed."

"But... can't they feel it?" Bilbo tilted his head, "If they can't feel when someone is taken then they could try to take that person."

"Bilbo, I believe there is some cultural differences going on." Gandalf said, "I'm sure that we can sort this out."

"But what about the Dead?" Bilbo asked.

"Leave that to those who know what they need to do." Gandalf said, "You would not understand what it meand to die."

* * *

Bilbo frowned as every one gathered around, the Dead had been placed upon Pyres, according to Ori usually only Elves were burned but given the amount of Dead it was easier and quicker to burn them all. Bilbo still did not understand what burning had to do with Dead.

It was Thranduil who lit the first Pyre and Bilbo could not help the scream he let out as the people upon the Pyre began to burn.

Thorin caught him before he could reach the pyre, guiding him to the ground and holding him.

"Bilbo, our people do not change forms when we tire of one." Thorin began, "When our life is over we die and leave this world behind."

"Why?" Bilbo cried, "I don't understand."

"We were all made by different creators, your people we made by a Lady of Earth in winter many things sleep and are reborn in spring, your people do the same, changing when you tire of being one way, becoming something new." Thorin explained, "We do not do that, we cannot do that."

"You'll die?!" Bilbo cried, tears beginning to fall from his eyes, "And everyone else too?"

Thorin held Bilbo as he sobbed, he sounded so devastated at the new knowledge.

"Yes, we will." Thorin whispered into Bilbo's hair, "And I am sorry for it, that I will one day leave you behind."

"No." Bilbo decided, "Hobbit can become anything, when you die, I shall become your tomb."

"What if you wish to take form again?" Thorin asked.

"Why would I want to take form without my husband?" Bilbo asked Thorin as he looked away from the Pyre.

Thorin pressed a kiss to Bilbo's forehead, "What if you become bored?"

Bilbo smiled, "Hobbit chose a mate and keep them for life, my mother and father were grown together, they have never strayed, when one gets ready to become something other the other already has an idea of what they want to change to, I've chosen you, Thorin Oakenshield."

Thorin smiled back.

Then they turned back to watch the dead burn, and Bilbo wished he had never learned what death was and dreaded the day that Thorin would die and Bilbo would become for the last time.

* * *

A/N: I don't even have an excuse, except maybe sleep deprivation.

So for clarification when a Hobbit takes Form they are changing to the Humanoid Hobbit for we see in the book or movie, when a Hobbit Becomes they are taking a, less evolved are the words I'm saying but like when they take animal forms or plant forms. It alternates so a Hobbit will start out in a Become state because they are grown in the ground and then they are struck by lightning or somehow uprooted and they take their first Form, this is the only time they are required to grow up from a baby, some choose to but not all, Bilbo tends to start from a young child when he takes Forms.

What the Devil did I just write?


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: There was something Odd about the Arkenstone

* * *

Bilbo had noticed it when he had first set eyes on the Arkenstone. It was odd, the calling Bilbo felt to the Stone, of course he had feared a curse from the Dragon but had dismissed it.

At the moment Bilbo was staring at the Stone intently while the rest of te leaders yelled at one another and tried to negotiate.

"Bilbo?" Thorin asked.

"Yes, Thorin?" Bilbo turned to smile at Thorin.

Dwalin rolled his eyes at the pair of them.

"You're looking at the Arkenstone pretty intently, should we be worried?" Kili asked concerned.

"About what?" Bilbo asked.

"You know, the curse." Fili suggested, wincing at the glare Thorin sent him.

"Oh." Bilbo frowned, "Hobbits can't be cursed."

"Huh." Bard muttered.

"Do you mind if I see something?" Bilbo asked, motioning to the Arkenstone.

"No." Thorin motioned to it glaring Dain into silence.

Bilbo looked at the Stone and then took it gently in hand, twisting it this way and then that before turning to gaze at Thorin.

"How did you lose your brother?" Bilbo asked.

"There was a cave in when he was younger and he was lost." Thorin said softly with a frown.

"How long after was the Arkenstone found?" Bilbo asked.

"A year or two." Dain offered, "What has that got to do with anything?"

Bilbo stared at Dain, who shirgfed under Bilbo's gaze, unnerved by the intensity. Bilbo looked from him and to the Arkenstone tracing over it softly to the concern and confusion of those gathered.

And suddenly Bilbo threw the Stone to the ground with great force and they all watched it shatter in a spactacular burst of bright light that blinded them.

When the light faded Bilbo was kneeling on the ground next to a young Dwarf talking to him gently.

"You must be Frerin." Bilbo smiled at the child, "Your brother has told me so much about you."

"What happened?" The boy asked in a frightened voice.

"You had your first Becoming and your first Forming." Bilbo explained, "I thought other races didn't do that. You die?"

Bilbo frowned in confusion and thought.

"I suppose Grandmother mentioned having a child with her Stone man and letting him raise them when she had her Becoming... but I don't understand how you'd be able to Become." Bilbo said, "Unless she did that birthing thing for that child."

"Wait, what?" Fili asked, "Your grandmother was with a Dwarf?"

Bilbo nodded, "He calls himself Durin."

"Does that mean we're related?" Kili asked, "Not that it really matters with Dwarrow but you know most Races have a problem with incest."

"Incest?" Bilbo asked as he gathered the young Dwarf into his arms and returned to his place next to Thorin.

"When siblings or relatives are together." Dwalin explained, "Fili and Kili would be considered incestuous because they share both mother and father. Oin and Balin tecniqually are incestuous because we share a common Grandfather, our fathers were brothers."

"How do you define relative?" Bilbo asked with a frown.

"Well, relatives share blood." Bard explained, "My children share my blood and their mother's."

"But don't you need your blood?" Bilbo asked.

Bard opened and closed his mouth several times.

"You have a mother and father?" Balin asked.

Bilbo nodded, "Belladonna Took and Bungo Baggins, depending on my feeings I'll go by Took or Baggins, this Forming felt more Baggins than Took."

"Ah, and Thorin explained that you grew in a garden?" Balin said.

Bilbo nodded again, "Yes."

"And do they not share blood with you?" Balin asked.

"Of course not!" Bilbo cried, "I was a very strong oak tree and while my mother's first Becoming was a tree it was a flowering tree and father was a shrub, blood is to remain in one's Form."

The group frowned.

"But then does that not mean they are not your mother and father?" Dain asked.

"They raised me from my first Sproutling and they watered me every day during my first Becoming." Bilbo said, "They are my parents."

"Right." Thranduil sighed, "When most races wish for children they will engage in certain acts that causes them pleasure and when the recieving partner is female, like Tauriel is, they can carry a child inside them for a time, during which the new being is grown."

"Inside her?!" Bilbo cried distressed, "How does it get out?!"

"Well, when the time comes the female's body sends a message that the child is ready and she will push the baby into the world." Thranduil finished.

Bilbo looked green, "That's..." Bilbo turned to Thorin, "That's how you came into this world?"

"Yes."

"Your mother is very brave." Bilbo said, "Is that how all of you came to be?"

They all nodded.

"No wonder none of you have any sense." Bilbo muttered, "That's horrible."

"So, in all actuality none of the Hobbits are related as we would call it?" Dain asked.

Bilbo shook his head, "I don't think so, sometimes we might change our features to look similar but if I wanted I coud take a Form that looked like anything even an Elf."

Bilbo began to pet Frerin's hair, "Did Frerin grow inside your mother?"

"Yes." Thorin said.

"But he can Become." Bilbo said slowly.

"I should have died." The boy whispered suddenly, all eyes turning to him, "The rocks all fell on me and I remember wondering if that was how gems were made and being afraid of all the darkness and then I was here."

Bilbo nodded knowingly, "Yes, that does make sense, you Became as you were thinking about how things were made."

"Wait, does that mean it might be possible for any one in Durin's line to Become?" Kili asked, excitedly, bouncing in his chair.

They all paused.

"We are not testing it on purpose." Thorin declared.

Bilbo smiled, "You shouldn't have to die, a good strong concentration should do it."

"Cool!" Kili shouted and his face scrunched up oddly and they all watched as his form blurred and shone from within and then with a blinding light a small raven fluttered where Kili had been sitting, its wings still made of baby fluff and the bird ruffled it's feathers annoyed.

"Kili!" Fili shouted, "Change back!"

"He can't." Bilbo said, "Not until he grows to an adult Raven."

Thorin looked at his nephew Become bird as Fili tucked the chick into his pocket, "Dis is going to kill me."

But Thorin couldn't help turning to Bilbo and thinking that when Bilbo was ready to Become once more he might be able to Become with him.

* * *

A/N: I know that Frerin died at the battle for Moria but hey I figured while I was creating an Au I might as well bring him back.

Durin's line can Become, most don't but given his age and how afraid he was Frerin triggered an instinctual Change and he didn't appear older or younger because Bilbo kind of forced the Forming and he was brought back to the Form he had last had.

So because there was no blood used to grow baby Hobbits, by normal definition no Hobbit is related to another. My Idea for this is that every seed has the potential to be a Hobbit but they must be planted by a Hobbit, this is why Bilbo would be able to grow a child from a random Acorn he found, no blood exchange or added necessary, some Hobbits will add something of theirs to make them familiar to their child such as something they wore often or a feather from a previous Becoming but generally they just plant the seed they decide on and they water it and speak to it until it is ready for it's first Forming.

I may have suddenly had a thought about the first incaration of Durin actually being Female and Bilbo's Grandmother being Male and they didn't know that the children of their races were made differently and Durin got pregnant and gave birth and the next time they were born they were Male so Bilbo's Grandmother Formed as a Female and that was when Bilbo met them so his Grandmother is Grandmother even when they are male.

Hobbit gender norms are going to be weird, I might explore that some more as well. So I wonder if that means I should tag genderfluid Hobbits?


	3. Chapter 3

Summary: The world changes those that allow it.

* * *

Bilbo sat quietly at the edge of the lake that Laketown was built upon, the parts Smaug had burned away had been rebuilt and Bilbo was glad for it, for those that would remain in Laketown.

But that was not why Bilbo sat here.

Hobbits, as a general rule, disliked large bodies of water; during their Formings they could not swim, not even if they learned, their bones too dense ad solid thus they would sink no matter what they did unless they had something buoyant between them and the water, during a Becoming they could only swim if their chosen form could such as a fish or duck.

Bilbo wondered if, perhaps, he could Become briefly, to see what had become of Smaug. There was no set time limit for either Forming or Becoming, though generally a Hobbit would hold a Form for less than a hundred years but would Become for longer depending on the Becoming's life span.

Bilbo twisted the Handkerchief in his hand before looking down at it, it was a worn and tattered thing, singed and ripped at the edges and in one corner embroidered messily, a Faunt's first attempts, were the initials B.B.

Bofur had given it to him, told him he must have dropped it it their run from Smaug. But Bilbo had forgotten his handkerchief and had not replaced it, even if he had he would not have had time to make his initials upon it.

Thorin sat down next to Bilbo and Bilbo glanced over at him.

"Bard told me you came down here." Thorin told him.

Bilbo's gaze returned to the lake, "Do Dragons die?"

Thorin frowned, "I suppose they must."

"How long can they live for?"

"Centuries, according to Gandalf," Thorin answered, "Bilbo?"

"My first Forming, long ago, I found an egg." Bilbo began quietly, twisting the handkerchief again, "I was still curious about the new creatures that were being cast upon the world, my chosen Form similar to an Elf in that it was tall and slight, quick and light, but round in the face like a Hobbit."

Bilbo smiled, "It was before Hobbits settled into a smaller Forming, before Dwarrow were born from the Stone of Mahal, it was after the first Dwarrow woke from the Stone that many Hobbits decided to take a smaller Form and then we Wandered a time, coming together to develop our own culture and traditions, before Dwarrow were carved from their Stones we Hobbits were very much separate beings and never much minded one another unless we'd paired as a couple as my parents had." Bilbo explained when Thorin made a confused face.

"I found what I'd mistaken as a ruby gemstone, when it hatched several years later I was both delighted and shocked, as you could imagine, not so delighted when the little lizard set my hair aflame the first time."

Thorin's eyes had widened as Bilbo continued to speak, Bilbo supposed it must have surprised the Dwarf.

"The little thing, Oh, I always called him my little Ruby, he'd a fondness for hording my neckerchiefs, my handkerchiefs , he'd even take my waistcoats." Bilbo laughed wistfully.

"When we Become, the memories made during a Forming dim. It is why after a tragedy happens during a Forming a Hobbit will Become soon after, it is why I would have Become had you died from your wounds." Bilbo paused, "After a time my Ruby became too big to keep along with me on my travels, those made of Starlight had been brought forth by then and they were not at all kind to my Ruby, though I kept him safe as best I could, so I eventually sent him to journey alone, far from those that would cast cruel words to him and make him doubt himself. After he was away from me I Became a little reed near a lovely little spring, for several seasons I stayed along the spring until it grew into a stream and I Formed again and made my way over mountains to the land my people had settled. We Hobbits have an instinctive sense of where others are, I always though it was to help avoid one another but, ahh." Bilbo smiled secretively at Thorin as though sharing a secret, "I never did see my Ruby after that Forming, and I suppose, after so many Becomings and Formings, I must have forgotten him some."

"Smaug was... you raised him?" Thorin forced out.

Bilbo shook his head, "Smaug was not my Ruby, perhaps they shared the body, but my Ruby would not harm another living being, I had him for the start, a handful of centuries. But the world..." Bilbo glanced at Thorin, "The world has a way of twisting what is good and kind into something cruel and evil, if one allows it."

Bilbo looked away from Thorin, back to the lake where Smaug had fallen.

"I suppose my Ruby must have allowed it, allowed himself to become Smaug."

Bilbo stood, casting the handkerchief upon the water where it began drifting away from them on the gentle waves, towards the center of the lake before sinking beneath the waves, a part of Bilbo hoped that it returned to it's owner, the little Drakeling that had stolen it so long ago.

"I mourn the little Drakeling that dug up daisy flowers and sneezed the petals from my sunflowers, that singed my hair, that I taught to fly and speak. I mourn my Ruby child that hatched from stone that burned. I cannot mourn Smaug, he is not mine to mourn. For what he did to you I cannot mourn him. But I mourn who he once was... when he was mine."

Thorin stood as well and took Bilbo's hand.

"If it is not too deep a wound, perhaps you can tell me more of your Ruby." Thorin offered.

There was much of Bilbo that Thorin would never be able to understand, they were so different, Bilbo centuries, millennia, older than he could ever be, but Thorin knew grief, he knew the pains it could bring, even long after and he knew that it was not time that eased the pain but the memories that were shared.

"Perhaps." Was all Bilbo offered as he stared out at the lake that was a tomb for the drake that his little Ruby had become.

* * *

A/N: So... why did I write this?  
Yes, Bilbo raised Smaug for a time, but you know Dragons grow and Sauron or whatever...  
And Bilbo's Form was different when Smaug was young thus no recognition.  
I just needed to write this thought out, feel free to ignore it in the grand scheme of Dead Au.

Also the whole life span of a Becoming doesn't actually matter when it is a Hobbit, like a lasting for decades if a Hobbit wanted to stay a tree for that long they could but they could also spend a week as a tree, and well no one would be able to chop it down, they might even be compelled away to a different tree, same with animal forms, a person that tries to hunt them when they are a deer will perhaps suddenly feel ill at the thought of eating it and find something else to eat. I don't know Hobbit Magic. A Hobbit could also find themselves spending centuries as a fish or something like that should they chose.

Regarding Smeagal, in that I don't quiet know if the Ring exists in this Au yet but as such if it does Smeagal would have lost his ability to change from a Form to a Becoming because Hobbits can't die as such but they can be forced into a Becomeing when dealt a Mortal blow which Smeagal gave Deagal when they fought over the Ring, thus Deagal would have to be Forced back to Form but he wouldn't remember what happened to force the change, and the Ring twisted the Hobbit Magic in Smeagal until he could no longer access it but remained long lived, though it twisted his Form as he had lost the ability to control his appearance making him appear as he does in the movie.

Sorry about the Information dump but I had to get it down while I was thinking about it otherwise I'd lose the idea.


End file.
